Good morning FTE Family & Friends

Happy April Fools Day!

Welcome to the 1st day of April. Birthday wishes to anyone with a birthday this month.
Whos ready for Spring...April showers & flowers?

Enjoy your weekend

 

Wait a minute... I thought that it was still.... Oh, OK, I get it, ha ha ha. Happy April Fools Day to you too, LOL.

 

Wow, the 4th month of the year is already upon us. Time flies. The older you get, the faster it seems to fly too.

Jim

 

Happy April everyone...2017 is slipping away fast!

 

Hello all,

Happy Sunday. Hope everyone has a blessed day.

Well I got some bad news today. Just found out from the Social Security website, that my monthly checks will only be $948 instead of $1,082. This on top of the fact that the VA has stopped sending me the $133.17 a month benefit check last month, and this month. So my income has dropped 24% (and my portion of the rent has gone up $21 starting last month) in the last 45 days. They (SSI) state they are taking $134 out of the $1,082 for medical insurance as of March 2017. Since when do Social Security people pay for insurance? I cannot call or go in until tomorrow, but it sounds more like the VA attaching my check than medical insurance. Besides, the VA just sent me a letter confirming I do not need medical insurance, since they fulfill the requirement. So it has to be that stupid education benefit bill they claim I owe.

It took the VA two weeks last month to tell me they checks stopped because I owed the local VA hospital $2,030. However, when I went to the hospital billing office, they told me that I owe them nothing as I am exempt due to the service connected disability. So I contact the VA in Minnesota again, and this time they tell me it is an education bill from 1999. I told them that is impossible since I didn't use my VA education benefits in 1999. So they are putting a tracer on it, but say it will be 3-4 weeks for an answer. So I sent a letter to Senator Kamala D. Harris this past Wednesday asking for her help. Now this. I will be sending her another letter telling her about this. If I thought it would do any good, I would go to the SSI office tomorrow and stand in line for an hour or so and talk to someone. However, I seriously doubt anything will change just because I complain to them.

Besides, money is so tight right now, I don't have bus fare, and I need to conserve what little gas I have left in the tank as my next check does not get here until the 12th. If the VA had not stopped my checks, I would have been paid on Friday. It didn't help that on top of all this, my car registration, and my drivers license were all due in April, so I paid them out of last month's $1,082 check. However, since no check Friday, and another 10 days to go for my reduced SSDI check, I will just retreat into my man cave, and live like a hermit for a bit. main concern is food to last until then, but I am sure my church will help in that department. So I just need to wait it out. I don't know how fast the senator can get this taken care of, but I will pray it happens quickly.

Sorry just needed to get this off my chest, otherwise my high blood pressure will get even higher, and send me to the hospital.

Jim

 

Morning everyone.

The minion and I had a nice relaxing weekend camping. We got to try out out new double tent-cot and self-inflating mattress. They both worked great, and not sleeping on the ground was a plus.

Jim, I hate to hear that they are doing this to you. Knowing this happens to our Vets while our government officials live like fat cats, really pisses me off.

 

Good morning Nevada. Damn, Jim, I'm sorry to hear about the problems with SS and the VA. The government can be such a PITA.

Greg, sounds like you two had a good weekend!

 

Happy Mustang Monday Nevada!

Thanks guys. I am going to see what I can do today, going to three different government agencies, HUD (to see if they will lower my rent now that my income has fallen...again) food stamp place, to see if I can get more food stamps, and then finally the Social Security office. And when I come home, the Senator I wrote to last week has a phone number to call to get in touch with her office quickly, so I will call.

Greg, it is definitely a plus to sleep on air mattresses instead of the ground. My camping days are over (no 4x4, and with my straight leg, almost impossible to get up once on the ground) however I do remember sleeping on what was supposed to be soft sand at the Colorado river in Bullhead, AZ, and then on an air mattress in Big Bear, Ca. I prefer the air mattress. not even close. Glad you and the minion had a great time. Before I found out about my income deflation I was pondering getting a early to mid 90's Grand Cherokee, or one of the AWD Explorers from 97-98. However, that has been put on hold indefinitely.

Jim

 

Went to the SSI office yesterday and found out that when you are receiving disability benefits for 24 months they automatically enroll you in Medicare part B, and the $134 is the premiums. Which I still think is stupid. How do they expect anyone on disability to be able to afford 12% of their check being deducted? Anyway, I cancelled it, but will have to pay the premiums this month, and May. So in June it goes back up to normal. Thank God I have the VA... Now, if I can get the VA to drop its ridiculous garnishment for a 33 year old debt, I'll be a happy camper.

Jim

 

Glad to hear you made some progress Jim.

The tent-cot is great. here is a the type I got.

 

Good morning Nevada,happy Hump Day! The last time we went tent camping, it poured the whole time. The wife decreed that our tent camping days were over!

 

Is that tent-cot big enough for you and the minion, or did you buy two of them? Looks cool, but it would not work for me, getting in and out would be a hassle with my straight leg. However, I could always sleep in the vehicle I took to go camping with.

Jim

 

Morning everyone.

Pat, I have considered getting a pop up pull behind but the places we camp are not exactly easily accessible. Pulling a pop up could pose some interesting challenges.

Jim, it is the double, so is like to cots side by side. It is just under the size of a queen size bed. It easily has enough room for 2 people even at my size.

 

I like the shoe rack under the cot. Better than the ground where bugs and rain can get inside. How small does it fold up? Not that DW would ever go for the idea of camping with it, LOL. She's spoiled now, since she laid the law down and we bought a fifth wheel camper. That's not camping in my book, but oh well... Personally, I still think it's pretty cool though.

 

Nice looking cot-tent. I did not know it was about the size of a queen size bed. I miss camping. Would love to be able to do it again.

Jim